


Chess

by dragonwings948



Series: Fictober 2020 [17]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Ambiguity, Character Study, Chess, Fictober 2020, No Dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27051943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonwings948/pseuds/dragonwings948
Summary: Chess has been a significant game all throughout the Doctor's lives.
Series: Fictober 2020 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947748
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	Chess

He discovered the game when he was young. It wasn’t exactly chess, of course, but a version of it created on home planet. His brother taught him how to play, but he always won, so the boy lost interest.

Much, much later, he arrived on Earth with his granddaughter. He found a game that was so similar to the one he’d played as a child and decided to pass on his knowledge of the intricate game to his granddaughter. She was gone before she could learn enough to beat him.

Many lives passed, and chess became more than a game. It became life or death, the universe or complete destruction. It became about winning at all costs, no matter who he used as the pawns. But it wasn’t played because he had to, or because there was no other way. It was played because he knew he could win.

There was war and death, pain and love, and when he discovered he’d have to play live chess with the players’ lives as the stakes to obtain information he needed, he didn’t hesitate. He was the best there was.

Now, one of her friends pulls out an old chessboard and she remembers. The friend asks her to play but she declines, offering someone else in her stead. A long time ago, chess became only about winning, and she isn’t sure she wants to win anymore.


End file.
